For-2-nately (no... 4/2/20)
13OK, so… Day 2
I got to go into town the big city yesterday. Had to go bail out SWMBO’s Honda Fit from the shop. About a month ago we had the motor changed after it developed a tappet tick when she blew a spark plug out of its hole. We left it alone for a while, but the tapping was getting louder (ala Edgar Allen Poe) so we decided to go ahead and swap out the motor. Our mechanic found a good one (?) and made the swap for us. 6 months warranty on the engine, 12 months on the labor.
Made a trip to Nashville and then down to Orlando (this was in Jan., pre-COVID travel bans) and on the way back home to central AL from Mickey-land the cruise control suddenly quit working. About 35 miles later, after getting off I-10 we stopped at a light and the oil light came on… Uhoh! Pulled into the Dollar General diagonally across the intersection, popped the hood and checked the dipstick. Yep, no oil on the stick… Dammit!
Bought a couple of quarts of oil, poured them in and re-checked the level… Still down one! Topped it off, then headed home (another 125 miles or so). Found that the cruise worked fine (guess it was trying to tell us something).
Took it in to get it checked and they found a leak at the oil pan and fixed that. It all seemed fine for a few hundred miles, then I checked it again and… down a quart. CRAP!! We were headed to Cumberland Island to go camping with the grandkids (a story for another time) so we went ahead, keeping a closer eye on the oil.
Got back home with no problem, then dumped off the car again. Wife headed to St. George Island for 10 days, I went to work. They used the time to put some dye in the oil and track down another leak which they repaired… under warranty. So now we are back to a 2 car household, and life is good tolerable.
I blame myself for not checking it out better after we got it back the first time ( I can do that, right?)
TL:DR Which brings us to today’s topic (see how I did that??)
How many cars/trucks/suvs/vans have you owned in your lifetime.
Personally, I am at 18 (at least the ones I could think of when I tried to list them all) and counting. This list goes back over 47 years, and includes ‘shared’ vehicles with my spouse. I figure I have close to a million driving miles to date in the past 50 years.
Chevy Impala
Dodge Tradesman 200 Van
Subaru sedan
Fiat Sedan
El Camino
Subaru wagon
Plymouth Reliant
Datsun Pickup (#1)
Dodge Caravan
Mercury Tracer Wagon
Datsun Pickup (#2)
Ford Aerostar
Isuzu pickup
Geo Metro Convertible
Pontiac Firebird Convertible
Honda Civic
Pontiac Vibe
Honda Fit
BTW
NONE of those were bought new. The closest I ever came to a new car was the Reliant (1983?) which was a dealer demo with about 2500 miles on it… remember when that was even a thing?
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@chienfou made the choose your own adventure game suck.
@mediocrebot … yeah, that was an original thought!
7 vehicles (and one small camper I used as a daily driver for a while), all but one used.
2 used toyota pickups (first one was a real beater, traded it for a better used one that was wiped out in a 25 car pile up in a white out).
Much older toyota tercel 4 wheel drive wagon that had failed PA inspection due to rust but the engine was OK and I didn’t live in PA (bought from a cousin, sold it when I was going to move to a state that also had inspection as it would fail there due to the rust - had I been in an accident with that all that would have been left would have been a pile of rust dust on the road).
New caravan totaled out when a kid ran a stop sign and caused a multicar accident on a major city artery that had no traffic signal at that intersection.
Used 8 year old grad caravan that was 25 years and 4 months old when it blew an engine bearing.
Used my, bought at 23 years old, 88 Nissan sunrader 16’ class B camper as my daily driver for a couple of months until I found another used car (sold this to pay for cancer expenses - a very sad day having to sell that as it was a great little truck camper and I still had trips I wanted to take in it, person I sold it to is still using it) .
Used 10 year old Honda Element that, 5 years later, was backed over by a commercial truck with no rear bumper so crushed the hood, part of the engine and was totaled out.
Used 10 year old Toyota Sienna that hopefully will last at least 25 years.
Driving minivans I got spoiled when making trips. You can comfortably sleep in them (which I do), when packing for trips bring a ton of “extra” stuff, travel with a big, huge cage (even has a shelf) with the cats in it and still have room to sleep in the van… The only down side is the mileage.
@Kidsandliz
Oh that reminds me… I totally forgot the 26ft RV we had for a summer… Drove it from AL to CA, up to WA across thru ID, MT etc. down to KS then across MO and back home to central AL. Lots of fun.
@chienfou Sounds like a really nice trip. I’m envious. As a kid our family spent one month every summer taking trips, first car camping and then with a tiny tent top trailer. I had to sell mine to pay bills before I was able to take my long planned series of trips. I had been slowly working to fix things and it was almost good to go (of course that helped with the resale price).
I owned three pre-marriage.
66 convertible mustang
Volkswagen w/ automatic stick
Chevy luv pickup
Since I’ve been married we had an 85 ford sedan (don’t recall what it was called, it was boring)
1988 Ford Ranger (we still have this)
Little Ford Bronco II (for doing errands)
2005 Ford Escape (my last video of it - I loved that little car)
2008 Ford Escape
His stuff:
A few big Ford trucks 250, 350 (he had them for his glass business). Not sure how many. He’d know, but it’s not important to me, so I don’t.
A dumptruck
A crane
A couple of tractors (in the backyard…do tractors count?)
A Case 310 bulldozer that he rebuilt
@lisaviolet Boring … the Tempo?
/image 85 Ford Tempo
If it’s larger, then it’s the Crown Victoria.
/image 85 Ford Crown Vic
Smaller, an Escort.
/image 85 Ford Escort
@narfcake 1985 Ford Thunderbird, 30th anniversary edition. (I had to ask.)
@lisaviolet @narfcake
Wow. That is one sweet ride, 30 years later than this turd.
@lisaviolet If my 6 year old grandson knew of the great toys your husband has (dump truck to the end of the list) he’d for sure ditch me and adopt you and your husband as his new grandparents. The only thing that would cause him to defect from you is if someone owned an 18 wheeler.
@Kidsandliz His only sadness now is he doesn’t have the time to do anything with them. They’re at our property up in Ranchita. He stores them in big sea containers.
@lisaviolet Well if he likes them the way my young grandson likes stuff like that it is a sad day all his toys are “unavailable”.
i’ve only had 4 cars:
used 1985 toyota camry - my mom borrowed it and totaled it (she was fine - insurance declared it totaled)
used 1992 oldsmobile cutlass ciera - drove that one into the ground. it had an oil leak. had to put in a quart every 1-2 weeks depending on how much i drove. guess i drove a bit too much one time and it threw a rod. side story: visited a friend on my way back to VA from IL. as i was leaving she says “hope your car makes it back!”. car died about 1.5 hours later. called her and made her drive out and pick me up. it’s only fair considering she jinxed me, right?
new 1999 toyota solara - transmission gave out after 250k miles.
new 2016 subaru outback - already have 80k miles on it.
First vehicle I legitimately owned was a 1973 Dodge Dart…Rolled It Then I bought a 1974 Plymouth Duster…Sold It I had a 1969 Ford Pickup next…Stupid thing would always start, even w/ -30 temps, dead of Winter, no block heater or anything. Someone offered me too much money for it, and it was gone. Then I drove a 1985 Buick for a year or better during college. Great car, but Mom & Dad wanted it back so they could trade it in on a different car for themselves. Got my first “adult” job shortly after college & went out and bought a 1991 Dodge Daytona. I drove the crap out of that car! After clicking 175K miles on it, I gave it to my kid sister who added another 50K before it finally gave up the ghost. I bought a 2008 Dodge Caliber, back in 2010 & am still driving it to this day. Daily driver that gets me back & forth to work. Just recently clicked 110K miles on it, still nothing wrong Knock On Wood but I imagine something will cause me to send it on its way sooner than later…I mean 10 years with one vehicle? What’s wrong w/ me?!?
@tohar1 you, my friend, are a mehtizen after my own heart! In other words… drive til the wheels fall off!
First car was a 1982 Buick Skyhawk. Went on to…
1990 Subaru Legacy - Had a friend whose father was a VP at Subaru which is hq’ed in Cherry Hill, NJ. Bought a ‘demo’ VP’s car with 1000 miles on it for $6000 under list price thanks to him. Transmission went on it.
1996 Dodge Avenger - Great looking, typical Dodge piece of crap.
2000 Ford Mustang in electric green. Still my favorite color car I’ve owned.
2004 Mazda Tribute - I got tired of driving the Mustang in bad weather.
2008 Subaru Tribeca - Figured I’d try them again. Bad move. First the block cracked and left me stranded in the middle of a snowstorm. Later the head gasket blew, as is typical for Subaru. Damn thing was overheating on the way to my father’s funeral. Fuck Subaru.
2016 Mazda CX-5 - So far the best vehicle I’ve ever owned. 110,000+ miles on it and going strong. It’s paid off as of this month so I’m going to hang on to it for a while and enjoy not having any car payments.
All looked like these.
1988 Chevrolet Cavalier (I wrecked it a couple of times, the last time just before getting married)
1991 Pontiac Grand Am (wife’s first car I started driving it after we got married - it died on me in the middle of the highway)
1999 (maybe) Pontiac Grand Am (I wrecked it)
2001 Pontiac Grand Am (traded it in)
2001 Ford Ranger (got it after wrecking the 99 Grand Am) (Gave it to the sister in law)
2005 Honda Odyssey (traded it in)
2001 Onda (not a typo) Accord (current car)
2004 Chevrolet Silverado (Current truck)
2011 Honda Odyssey (Current van - got from the trade in of the 08 van)
All of them quite used.
So I personally wrecked 2 cars (one more than once) and drove 2 vehicles into the ground (I had to replace the engine on the Ford truck).
@jst1ofknd
At some point did you also own a fancy Delorean?
@jst1ofknd
I’m sure there is a story to that…
@chienfou @jst1ofknd Did the ‘H’ fall off the nameplate on the back? That sort of thing happens. My parents had a Bui for a while…
@shahnm that was my first thought as well…
@shahnm
Good guess. The car appears to have been involved in a front end collision before I got it. It looks like it was put back together by who I would say works for the Mediocre corporation except I think all the people at Mediocre are top notch.
Anyway, the H emblem on the front is missing. As soon as I bought it (from Craigslist) and brought it home the wife asked me about it. Until then I was unaware of the missing H and that one of the windows was tinted and none of the others (different story).
@chienfou @jst1ofknd @shahnm We had a J ep for awhile
@cinoclav
Nope. If my first car was a delorean, I would have been constantly time traveling. The speedometer only went to 85 MPH and I buried the needle every where I went.
My last accident (the one that totaled the car) was not speed related. And my first accident in that car wasn’t quite speed related either…
@jst1ofknd you just keep teasing us with “…”! Either out with it or don’t bring it up, ya meanie.
@jst1ofknd Kind of thinking you didn’t get where I was going with that one. You mentioned trading in the '08 van but you only listed an '05 before the current 2011 Odyssey.
@cinoclav
Nope
Completely missed it. And it was an 05 (so confirms the wife).
@mollama
Sorry. Not really a good story. I was on my way to work and there was a slowdown on the highway and I rear ended another car.
We were given the another car of the same type and took them both to OSU Okmulgee auto shop and they put the front end from the other car on my car. As far as I know the other car is still there.
/image 1973 Chevelle Malibu
/image 1979 Caprice Classic
/image 1986 Olds Ciera GT
/image 2004 Kia Spectra Ex
/image 2012 Infiniti G37x
All well past 100k miles, except the Chevelle. Idiot pulled a u-turn in front of me at highway speeds. Still hurts.
Well, and the Infinity. It’s not quite to 80k yet
38 Vehicles over 50 years
57 chevy
60 Borgward
60 VW Beetle
63 VW Beetle
66 VW Bus
68 Tempest
69 AustinAmerica
66 Satellite Wgn
67 Corolla
76 Chevette
72 Super 90
68 Westfalia
69 Duster
76 Subaru Wgn
78 Subaru GL
78 Vega
64 Rambler American
77 Omni
78 Chevette
80 Audi 4000
84 Jetta
84 Tempo
84 S-10
85 Jetta
86 AstroVan
86 Aerostar
92 Aerostar
96 Aerostar
92 Legacy
99 Forester
90 Jeep
95 Impreza
96 Legacy
94 Camry
06 Matrix
02 Silverado
05 Prius
05 Vibe
@cranky1950
@cranky1950
Oh my!
That’s a lot of crankshaft to get cranky about.
Congrats!
@cranky1950 I’m approaching 275K on my '05 Vibe. It’s been one of my favorite cars.
First car that was mine - Mazda 323. I saved about forever and bought it new. I didn’t know anything about cars and wanted new so it would be reliable. I got lucky and it was a good little car. I sold it at public auction after it decided it didn’t want to start and run consistently at about 8 years old. Next was a Chevy Cavalier I got used. I kept that a couple years then sold it. I drove a bunch of cars for a couple years while working as a notary at a small car lot. PSA - never hand me the keys to a Ford Taurus. I broke down just about every time I touched one. Next was a new right hand drive Jeep Wrangler that is still on the road. Then a used Chevy Corvette for fun that is currently parked needing repairs. I bought a Mitsubishi iMiEV that is my daily driver now unless I need the 4 wheel drive or long distance. Spouse has a few vehicles that I don’t count. I am hoping to down size the fleet soon.
@speediedelivery Mail carrier?
@chienfou Spouse is but there is a postal owned vehicle on the route now. It is a fun ride but poor on gas mileage. It is on the list that I would like to sell to make some room.
@speediedelivery My first car was the predecessor to the 323 — the Mazda GLC. The model name was a literal acronym for “Great Little Car”. I had the hatchback. Until I got rear-ended on the interstate by an unproven drunk coming back from a concert. Luckily, me and my date didn’t have a scratch, but the GLC was toast.
I’ll try to remember them all - ‘70 Suzuki trail 90, 64 Chevy Impala, 68 Opal Kadett Rallye, 70 Chevy van, 71? Toyota S10 pickup, 67 Ford Fairlane, 69 Chevy Chevelle SS, Honda 400 MC, 70 Chevy Nova, another 70 Chevy Nova, 90 Chevy Lumina, 92 Ford Pickup, Toyota RAV, Honda CRV, 99 Jeep Wrangler, 08 Dodge diesel pickup, 08 Jeep Patriot, 18 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 19 Jeep Cherokee
30hp Yanmar backhoe, a 28’ class C RV, two Honda quads.
I think that’s about it…
@daveinwarsh My first car was a 68 Opel Kadett. What a piece of junk. However, my husband later bought a 75 Opel and that was a great little car for the money.
Come to think about it, I think I bought my car because I liked the elephants in the TV car ads. I was such a stupid kid.
@Barney That’s odd, my Opel was an amazing car that never gave a bit of trouble. Very solidly made, great on gas & fun to drive.
@daveinwarsh Your Opel probably didn’t get smashed by a '59 De Soto station wagon that ran a stop sign. It did nothing good to my Opel or me.
@Barney I found a pic of it (& scanned it)-
1974 Ford Capri (2.8l V6), used (college car)
1980 Mazda 626 sedan, used (bought cheap from parents)
1986 Pontiac Fiero SE (V6), new (loved that car)
1991 Mitsubishi Eclipse, new (cheapest I could find)
1972 Olds Cutlass Supreme convertible (still have it)
2000 Volkswagen Jetta wagon, new
2002 Volkswagen Passat wagon, used
2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid, used
2013 Toyota Highlander Hybrid, used
EDIT: Forgot the motorcycles
Kawasaka Trail Boss 100cc (10 speed!)
Yamaha Virago 250cc (The next year it became the Vstar 250)
@Mehrocco_Mole I had left bikes out as a topic for another day, but yeah… bikes are great!
Numbers 1 and 15 were the only automatics.
@stolicat patterns:
VW: hit by drunks
Toyota: long lives. Which is good to know - looking for something reliable for teen to drive but cheap enough we won’t fret car if totaled (And that you survived is another plus, though how banged up were you? there are degrees of “survived.”)
@mollama Luckily I wasn’t in any of the ones hit by the drunks, they were just innocently parked on the street minding their own business.
The crashes I participated in were all older vehicles (68 bug, 88 Tercel wagon, 95 4Runner) so hard to give recommendation. I’d say find a decent used (90-ish) Toyota Corolla for the kid. Fun to drive, extremely reliable. I just realized I forgot to add mine to my list!
Mazda GLC. Carless. A Mazda 6. A Kia Spectra after the redesign in 98? Then a Hyundai Sonata in '11 still chugging with 130K on it (Hyundai covered a full replacement engine right at 100K, so it’s got another but to go. Paid for, will probably get a Tesla next.